Someday, Relativity Space wants to 3D print a rocket on Mars.
For now, the startup’s set on expanding its manufacturing capabilities on Earth — and it just secured $140 million in fresh funding to bolster those efforts.
The Series C round comes at the right time for Relativity, with the funding set to propel the company through the first launch of its 3D-printed rocket, Terran 1.
If the launch works, Relativity will become the first company in history to send a fully 3D-printed rocket into orbit, laying a path for faster, cheaper commercial activity in space.
Terran 1 has 100 times fewer parts than a standard rocket, so Relativity estimates it eventually will be able to go from raw materials to space-ready in less than 60 days. (In the event you’re not a rocket scientist, it usually takes about nine times longer than that.) The company also doubled the size of its Stargate 3D printers, further speeding the process.
This accelerated manufacturing likely will get even faster with time, as Relativity integrates more advanced machine learning, robotics and software into the factory it’s building at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Eventually, the rocket-building process could be almost completely automated.
Among Relativity’s known customers are satellite operator Telesat, Thai satellite tech company mu Space, satellite rideshare provider Spaceflight Industries and space shuttle service provider Momentus.
At the moment, space commerce largely hinges on satellites for telecommunications, global positioning and weather tracking. In the future, however, the space economy will become increasingly focused on areas like asteroid mining and tourism. Regardless of how space industry progresses, establishing strong transportation channels between Earth and the rest of the solar system is an essential task.
Relativity’s largest competitors in the small launch vehicle space are Rocket Lab and SpaceX, which is part of Elon Musk’s entrepreneurial portfolio.
This latest investment brings Relativity’s total funding to $185 million, the company told The Verge. The round was led by Bond and Tribe Capital, with additional participation from existing investors Playground Global, Y Combinator, Social Capital and Mark Cuban and new investors Lee Fixel, Michael Ovitz, Spencer Rascoff, Republic Labs and Jared Leto.
